When bomb loading operations go wrong...

[Slater]

Tough day (or night) for a certain B-52 load crew during the Vietnam War. Hard to tell, but the M904 nose fuze may have been sheared off. Another call for EOD...

 

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[dogsbody]

Definitely an intense, heavy pucker moment!

 

 

 

Chris

[exdraken]

2 hours ago, Slater said:

Hard to tell, but the M904 nose fuze may have been sheared off. Another call for EOD...

would the fuse be put in before loading? obviously yes...but kind of looks emtpy.. shivers anyways!

[Slater]

That's why I say that it's hard to tell. We could simply be looking at the adapter-booster cavity, which means that it had not been fuzed.

[junglierating]

Not sure how that type of fuze (i.e. not fuse electric...to clarify spellin ')works but there is at least on British ordnance a safety lanyard also fitted which if the fusing units in the pylon are not electrically activated ....i.e.not energised allows the store to drop safe with the lanyard still attached.

If the fusing unit was energised the pylon keeps the lanyard withdrawing the pin on the arming mechanism on the explosive store.

Its been a while so bit rusty ....id be suprised if the Americans were much different but willing to be educated 😀

[Slater]

The M904 fuze is a mechanical, impact only fuze. There's an arming wire that is ran through a hole in the impeller vane and connected to the arming solenoid in the bomb rack (TER, MAU-12, etc.). When the bomb drops, the wire is retained by the solenoid and pulls out of the arming vane, allowing it to turn in the airstream. Not sure about B-52's, but on tactical aircraft the bomb can be jettisoned safely. I think the overall concept is similar between US and UK ordnance.

[f111guru]

Hello all,

If SAC (Strategic Air Command)had the same or similar prep as TAC (Tactical Air Command)for those who don't know what the letters stand for, then the bombs were wired, fused for loading. SAC at the time had a 5 man loadcrew and TAC had 4 man loadcrews. My first TDY duty station out of Clark AFB Philippines was Udorn RTAFB. Was fresh out of technical school and was trained as the number 4 man on a loadcrew. My duties was to prep the equipment meant to load ordnance for loading. Bombs and in this case is a M117 750 class bomb. I inspected the bomb for leaking explosive and to check the boosters were properly installed. I inspected the M904 and M905 fuses and set the time to arm and installed the delay. Once done the fuses were installed in the boosters. Arming wire and arming loops were installed and the wire was run through the fuse van base and the arming vane. The aft wire was run through the tail arming vane. This was done on all the munitions. So if SAC did similar, person did the same. Below is a M904 fuse.

A MAU-12 bomb rack and a empty M117 750lbs bomb.

And lastly a B-52D Stratofortress.

The photos were taken at the South Dakota Air and Space Museum just outside Ellsworth AFB.

 

Sorry for the run on words but I still have dreams of the bombs I loaded in my 22 years of USAF service. Can't shake them.

 

All The Best,

Ron VanDerwarker

[f111guru]

On 12/22/2021 at 10:14 AM, Slater said:

Tough day (or night) for a certain B-52 load crew during the Vietnam War. Hard to tell, but the M904 nose fuze may have been sheared off. Another call for EOD...

 

http://

It appears that the fuse is sheared off at the booster. Also the ramp is wet which makes the bomb slicker than normal. The rollers used during loading are made of metal and like ice when wet. The worst part on a dropped bomb is everyone gets involved from the wing commander on down. So yes does make for a bad day. First hand experience but with a MER load of M117's Udorn RTAFB September 1972.

All The Best,

Ron VanDerwarker